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TOSDAG Chapter 19: Next steps
🕑 Added 2025-01-29 15:07:58 +0000 UTCThird Person P.O.V
Lanruo frowned slightly with her eyes still closed, everything she was feeling through her soul force was... new, she had already received the explanation of what ki was and how it worked from Leek, but hearing the explanation and feeling the energy firsthand were two completely different things.
She could feel the flow of energy originating in Leek and slowly passing to Ning'er, through the connection they shared, she could feel how the younger girl's soul force was getting bigger, it was similar to a bonfire constantly fed by firewood, growing bigger and bigger, but it wasn't just that, she could somehow feel that the orange-haired girl's soul force was changing, becoming brighter, more consistent, heavier, more... powerful.
Would the same happen to her when it was her turn to absorb Leek's energy? Lanruo felt her heart pounding hard and fast in excitement and curiosity, what she was witnessing and what she would soon experience, this knowledge would bring a huge change to Glory City, and Lanruo could only imagine how much other aristocratic families, nobles, and even the three major families would covet this.
Feeling an impulse, Lanruo opened her eyes slightly, and what she saw almost made her gasp in surprise, the semi-transparent trail that had covered Leek surrounded him like a candle flame in a draft-free room, calm and barely fluttering, but still transmitting warmth.
But the most impressive thing was how that energy reached where Leek held Ning'er's hands and how that aura seemed to be slowly transmitting to her body.
It was like seeing a fantasy scenario, Lanruo, who was used to things like cultivation, demonic spiritualists, demonic beasts, elixirs, and many others, could do nothing but be surprised by what was happening in front of her.
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Third Person P.O.V
Time passed, and when the 75-minute mark was broken, the experiment finally ended, Ning'er's eyes slowly opened, and both Leek and Lanruo, could see how a silver glow seemed to pass through her pupils.
The three of them stood up, and Ning'er looked at her hand, her entire body was still covered by a layer of energy similar to the one Leek used, but this one was much fainter, like a very thin layer of vapor that could disappear at any moment.
Opening and closing her fist, Ning'er could feel something new in her body, it was like feeling an extra limb that she had always had but hadn't known about until now, it was an unknown feeling, but somehow it also felt natural.
"Well done Ning'er, you absorbed my ki appropriately, and there was no negative reaction, in fact, I can tell that your own ki is reacting to my energy, the aura that is surrounding you now is due to an accumulation of energy, it is used when you want to enhance your physical abilities or when you are gathering a considerable amount of power to launch an attack, to dissipate it you simply have to concentrate on that energy and reintroduce it into your body or expel it, it's up to you." Leek said, intrigued as to what would happen next.
"Wait, wouldn't it be dangerous if she throws it out?" Lanruo asked, a little nervous.
"No, her aura is too small, even if she were to throw an energy attack by chance, I'm sure I could stop it without much trouble, but of course, that depends on Ning'er." Leek said, looking at the girl, waiting for her to decide.
"I'd like to try throwing it out, I think that I feel… full?" Ning'er said, a little unsure of what word to use to describe her state.
The Saiyan nodded. "Very well, I think it would be good for you to experience how it feels to throw a ki sphere, I will receive it, what you must do is concentrate your energy in the palm of your hand and visualize the form that your energy will take, make sure to think of it as something external to your body, otherwise the aura will only cover your arm to reinforce it, and once the sphere is formed you can throw it, remember, you can put all the power you want into the ki sphere, but the more percentage of your energy you use, the longer it will take you." Leek explained before asking Lanruo to move away from him a little.
The girl nodded, moving away from the Saiyan a couple dozen steps, Ning'er nodded when she saw Lanruo far enough away, she didn't want to hurt her by mistake.
Ning'er raised her hand, pointing at Leek, while her other hand held her wrist, her brow furrowed in concentration, and little by little, the aura that covered her swirled and concentrated in her palm, giving rise to a sphere of energy the size of a ping pong ball that grew a little bigger with each passing second.
Experiencing this feeling for the first time, Ning'er found it incredibly similar to how she felt when she absorbed Leek's energy, but in reverse, little by little, she was pouring more and more of her energy, until after a few seconds, when the sphere was a little bigger than her palm, she felt that it was starting to become difficult for her energy to maintain the shape she wanted, so she cut off the energy supply.
"Very well, now to throw it, you only have to wish it, you don't need to wave your arm as if you were throwing a stone, simply command your own energy, and it will do your will"
Ning'er concentrated, and a second later, the sphere flew out at full speed, pushing her back a little in the process.
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Third Person P.O.V
Watching the energy sphere coming towards him, Leek felt a little nervous, this was the first time an energy sphere had been thrown at him, so even though he had felt how much energy Ning'er had put into it, and he was sure it was something he could handle, he still wondered if it would be too painful for him to receive it or too difficult to stop it.
But that was also part of the experience, Leek didn't remember exactly what he had been like in his past life, but he was sure that in this one he wasn't terrified about feeling pain.
Sure, it wasn't something that particularly excited him, he wasn't a masochist, but he could and was willing to endure it quite well, after all, progress, not just physical, but also intellectual, psychological, and any other, required failure at some point, it was inevitable, and failure was usually painful, so anyone who feared or completely rejected pain would be completely unable to progress.
So Leek, having steeled his resolve, covered his right arm in a layer of energy and raised his arm, ready to catch the ki sphere, and when the energy made contact with his skin, what Leek felt was… enlightening.
The sensation between holding his own energy converted into a ki blast and one that wasn't his was different, and as if it were second nature, ideas of how to counter this came to his mind, from infusing his own energy to steal control from the attacker to crushing it in his hand or simply slapping it to the side or back, this new wave of ideas on how to deal with energy attacks excited Leek, after all, they were part of his path to continue climbing to the top.
In the end Leek decided on one of the simpler paths and stopped the energy sphere before throwing it aside, Ning'er had "let go of the control" she had over it, and he hadn't taken it, so this ki blast was about to explode.
The energy sphere continued its path behind Leek for a little more than a dozen meters before colliding with the ground and exploding, raising a small cloud of dust.
And although Leek's gaze was focused on observing Ning'er, Lanruo did follow the path of the energy sphere, and although she never lost sight of it, the pink-haired girl admitted that this attack was quite fast.
But the girl's attention was brought back to the other two people present when she saw Leek move forward, covering the distance separating him from Ning'er just in time to catch the girl who was falling forward with her eyes closing.
"Ning'er?!" Lanruo's expression turned into a worried one, had something gone wrong?
"She's fine, it's just that since it was her first time using her ki, her control wasn't the best, so she didn't properly measure the amount of energy she injected into her attack, so she used more than she wanted to, and the conversion rate was also a bit off, a considerable portion of energy dissipated into the environment as soon as she imbued it into her ki blast, she just needs to rest for a while, and she should wake up, though she might be a bit sleepy after that." Leek explained in a relieved tone.
"Eh?" Lanruo looked a little confused, but not because of Leek's explanation, she understood everything he said, what caught her attention was the expression the young Saiyan was making.
"Is something wrong?" He asked curiously as he noticed how Lanruo was looking at him.
"If so many things failed, why are you smiling?" She asked without taking her gaze off him.
"Isn't it obvious? She managed to do an energy attack on her first attempt right after being able to access her ki, it took me several days of practice after learning the theory behind the attack, her mistakes were due to lack of practice, and even so, I can say that she has good control, once she gets used to it who knows what she will achieve, maybe she could beat me." He said, turning to look at the crater that had been left after Ning'er's attack.
Lanruo also turned her gaze, and there, where there was once grass, there was now a hole a little more than a meter in diameter and about 30 centimeters deep.
Lanruo understood what Leek was referring to, it was not the power of the attack that impressed him, it was the potential that it carried, he was not looking at the present, but at the future, and he seemed sincerely excited about it.
"Let's let her sleep for now, I want to hear what you think about what you felt and learned after observing the whole process, what do you say Lanruo, do you think you are ready to try it?" Leek asked after taking off his sleeveless jacket and folding it to serve as an improvised pillow for Ning'er.
"Really?" Lanruo seemed a little incredulous. "I think I can, but are you okay? The energy Ning'er absorbed was not small"
"Don't worry about it, it wasn't so much that I felt particularly affected, besides, the replenishment of ki, and even the healing, at least that of the Saiyans, is relatively fast, it's not for nothing that we are a warrior race, some even had the ability that after receiving an attack they learned to mold their energy to counteract or better resist the effects." Leek explained after feeling his own power, Ning'er hadn't taken much from him, and his body was already working to replenish that lost energy, but he wanted to see if Lanruo, who had reached the silver rank, could absorb more of his energy.
Lanruo wasn't one to hesitate, so when she heard Leek assure her that she was fine, she decided not to hold back, but before doing so she gave Ning'er a glance before raising her hand, making her interspatial ring shine and making a blanket appear which she used to cover the younger girl. "It's not too windy, but this should be enough to make sure she doesn't catch a cold, I wouldn't like to see her sick"
Leek nodded with a small smile, it seemed that the friendship between Lanruo and Ning'er had strengthened quite well.
Once the older girl finished covering the younger girl she turned around with her hands on her hips. "Alright then, let's get started, I'm really curious to know how it feels to use ki"
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Third Person P.O.V
The next 3 days passed relatively calmly, Leek started a couple of diaries, in the first one, he wrote all his discoveries and conjectures about the interaction between ki and soul force, and another one was for demonic beasts, demonic spiritualists, elixirs, inscriptions, and basically anything that caught his attention or that could be something he could take advantage of to become stronger.
And although from time to time he turned to Lanruo or her father for information to add to the second notebook, he always dedicated more time to his first diary and his own training, this was due to something he had discovered the first night he let Ning'er and Lanruo absorb his ki to stimulate their own so that they could use it later.
His initial plan was simple, he would test 4 different scenarios on both girls:
-The one that they directly absorbed his internal energy, concentrating only on that.
-They would directly absorb his energy, but this time after he externalized it, in simple words, Leek would create ki spheres and give it to Lanruo and Ning'er, and by imbuing them with their own energy, they would take control of it, and then absorb the power of that ki sphere.
Making a comparison, the first case would be as if they placed a straw in a huge container full of water and drank until they were satisfied, he being the pot and his ki being the water.
While in the second scenario, they would pour themselves a glass of water from the container and drink from it until they finished it.
Leek did this so that they would not always depend on his presence and to check if there was any difference in the rate of energy absorption.
Once both scenarios were tested, Leek moved on to the second part of the experiment and the one that would be the most challenging.
-The same two previous experiments would be repeated, but this time the energy absorptions would be done while both were practicing their cultivation at the same time.
But achieving that had proven to be a challenge, this was due to one fact, when someone cultivated, most of their attention was focused on cultivating.
It was not as if Demonic Spiritualists were oblivious to their surroundings while cultivating, they were still able to react, and even understand the words someone would say to them if another person spoke to them.
The problem was that this limited attention was not enough for them to be able to absorb Leek's energy either directly from him or from a ki sphere he had created.
Maybe after several months of practice, Lanruo and Ning'er would be able to do it, but this wasn't Leek's goal, what he wanted was for them to get stronger without depending on him, so, for the moment, it would be best to continue only with the first two exercises to stimulate the ki of both girls, and when they were able to manipulate it, they would move on to the next part of their training plan.
And besides that, there was also another problem, during their tests, it had been shown that Lanruo's energy absorption speed was slower than Ning'er's, it wasn't an abysmal difference, but it was still something that was evident, and Leek didn't understand why this was happening, it wasn't something related to talent, at least Leek didn't think it was like that, following the example of drinking water, it was as if Lanruo's straw was a little narrower than Ning'er's or was a little obstructed in some way.
Leek had some guesses as to what this could mean, but to confirm it he would need to do some more tests, the best thing would be to test at least 2 people who were in the same range, but at different levels, that way he was sure he could come to a conclusion and work towards solving the problem.
So, with this decision made, Leek closed his notebook and changed into his nightclothes before lying down on his bed with his hands behind his head, today was the sixth day since he made the deal with Ye Zong, so he had already dedicated enough time to this matter of experiments for now, it was time to move on to another matter.
One of the main reasons why he hadn't gone out to look for his ship as soon as he had finished his deal with the city lord, besides because he wanted to perform his experiments with Ning'er and Lanruo, was because the night when the full moon would be present in the sky was close.
To be more exact, it was currently a full moon, at least that was what the calendar Huyan Xiong had given him indicated, so he had made the necessary arrangements with the family patriarch to set out in search of his ship tomorrow, along with 5 fighters and 3 spiritualists, all of gold rank, and also accompanying them would be Ye Shuo, the older man who seemed to be one of the closest people to the city lord.
So this expedition would have the participation of 5 gold rank fighters, with 3 of them being 4 stars and two of them being 5 stars, 3 4 star gold rank demon spiritualists, 2 black gold rank demon spiritualists, and Leek himself.
At that moment, the door to the Saiyan's room opened, and Lanruo entered with a smile. "There's a full moon, I told you, you don't need to worry, our astronomical calendars are very precise, after today there won't be another full moon night for another 29 days"
"Ok, first of all, thanks for checking it for me, and second, you should knock, if you had come in a couple of minutes ago, you would have caught me while I was changing my clothes." Leek said exhaling, although after saying it he realized that saying this would probably, far from changing Lanruo's attitude, encourage her to continue entering his room in that way, and that thought was confirmed when she seemed a little disappointed for not having arrived earlier.
"And what would be the problem if I saw you in that state? You are my fiancé even if only a few people know about it, and when you are introduced to the rest of the noble families at the ceremony next month, it will be made public, so there is no problem." She said decisively before jumping straight onto Leek's bed, falling beside him and hugging his arm.
"What are you doing?"
"I want to cuddle with my fiancé, is that wrong?"
"I get the feeling you want to do more than just cuddle"
Lanruo gave a smile that would probably fit a female kitsune perfectly before speaking. "Yes, but we can't do anymore, we first have to wait for our engagement to at least be formally acknowledged in front of the other houses." She explained with her eyes closed and holding up a finger, all in a polite good-girl tone.
Leek blinked in genuine surprise. 'Wow, I didn't expect Lanruo to say something like that, maybe I prejudged her too quickly?' He thought, feeling a little bad for thinking she could be too flirtatious.
"Of course, if you lost control and jumped on me, no one could blame you. After all, I am incredibly beautiful, right?" She added at the end, her polite tone gone, this time it was a little suggestive as she hugged Leek's arm again and smiled at him as if she was daring him to do something to her.
'Forget it, prejudging her was okay after all." Leek thought as he mentally slapped himself, and his expression became calmer again.
Maybe before face would have turned red as a tomato some days ago, but after that night when they talked and he kissed her, something changed inside him, he would probably still be embarrassed if she kissed him in public, after all, he didn't like to draw attention like that.
But in private? It would take more than this if she really wanted to catch him off guard again like what happened after the sparring match she had with Mr. Xiong.
"You're a girl who loves to be pampered, right?" He said in an amused tone.
"Yes." She answered without any shame. "And I will continue to be because my fiancé told me that he likes that part of me too"
"Well, he's a very patient guy, I'm sure of that." He answered, taking the opportunity to praise himself a little.
And when Lanruo was about to continue with the jokes, she was surprised when Leek's free arm surrounded her in a hug, pressing her against his body.
"Huh?" It was the only sound she could make, she didn't expect this, and for a second she remembered that moment on the roof of that building, but she noticed that there was something different.
The atmosphere, the feeling that the action transmitted was... different, this hug, far from being exciting, was... incredibly warm and relaxing.
He didn't say anything, but she didn't need him to say anything, she simply moved her arms to hug him too, letting herself be carried away by the feeling of comfort, their eyes soon closed.
For the rest of the night they both slept peacefully, quietly enjoying the warmth that one provided to the other.
X-X-X-X-X
Well, like I said before, I've had more free time than usual lately, it's... kind of boring, there's nothing to do where I am, so I used that time to write more chapters, which resulted in these two extra ones, I hope you enjoy them.
Also, this is the end of this part of the story, once again, I'm surprised by how much I've come to like writing about Lanruo and her dynamic with Leek, but now that they've been able to get a little closer, I can move on to an original arc.
Leek is leaving Glory City to get his ship back, so it's the perfect opportunity for things to happen, this mini arc maybe last about 5 - 7 chapters or so, I hope you enjoy it, and after that I've already half-thought out what will happen next, so please look forward to it.
Also, I'll be dedicating more time to Ning'er once this mini arc is over, since, although I haven't left her aside and I make her participate in the events, I think she needs more moments with Leek to match Lanruo.
That's all, see you in the next chapter.
